Hendersonville city manager search outlined

Published: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 9:12 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 9:12 p.m.

Hendersonville City Council members met with executive headhunters Tuesday to discuss the process and firm up a schedule for hiring a city manager before the interim manager's contract runs out in May.

Working with Chapel Hill's Developmental Associates LLC, the council plans to have its top candidate picked by mid-April and starting work in May before interim Manager A. Lee Galloway leaves. The executive recruiting firm penciled out a plan to help council develop a profile “to identify expectations and competencies for the position,” and asking key questions on challenges the city faces.

Information gathered from the city and council will help the group advertise the position regionally, nationally and worldwide. The council set a date of Jan. 22 for the firm to return and meet with citizens in an open session to learn what they seek in a city manager. The open meeting will begin at 5:45 p.m.

A morning session with DA recruiters will be held that day for key leaders and department heads.

Dr. Stephen Straus, president and founder of Developmental Associates, said that they will send the advertisement to the city for its approval next Monday.

“Then, we'll start posting the ad in some key locations and be ready to roll by the middle of next week,” he added.

Straus said the ad will be posted in “professional locations in both electronic and hardcopy publications;” will be sent out to the North Carolina City Managers Association, the League of Municipalities and International City/County Management Association; will be added to social media sites such as LinkedIn; and will be used to tempt “target individuals” and key contacts who stand out to the firm.

“I already have several people contacting Bo (Ferguson, former city manager,) and me about this job. You're going to have a lot of applicants,” Galloway told the council.

All candidates will be required to post their applications through a specified link on NEOGOV through the firm's website, said Heather Lee, an organizational psychologist with DA. All candidates will be asked to answer the same questions. Responses will be filtered by a set of metrics used to weigh the answers based on minimum criteria that caters to the city's specific needs, she added.

The survey on the front end, Lee said, should help them narrow down a pool of candidates to a top-20 or so field of applicants.

Straus said the ad will be posted for 30 days. The firm will meet with council at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 20 to discuss its initial screening of applicants and the “weighted” results of the answers.

“What I'd like to do at that meeting is to whittle down the total of about 20 to somewhere around 15,” Lee said.

Those 15 will then undergo a secondary screening process of telephone interviews with the firm, a test of their “emotional intelligence” (such as how they handle stress and relate to people) and a Google search. The results will be added to the weighted answers of the NEOGOV survey to give the council a better idea of how the candidates “add up.”

The pool will then be whittled down to five to seven candidates, “who will be invited to come to the city” for more tests.

Straus said that instead of putting all of their faith in interviews, they will put candidates through an “assessment center” process that includes multiple exercises testing a variety of skills and competencies. The exercises may include a simulated budget presentation the candidate has to give, a staff meeting, a mock press conference or a situation in which a worker's performance is not what it needs to be.

Those exercises conducted in Hendersonville will test candidates for two days — April 4-5 — preceded or followed by a tour of the city, during which council members will get to meet the applicants.

With the final screening, Straus hopes that “one superstar” will stick out to the council, and at least two or three may be worthy of consideration. In about a week or two weeks after the exercises, the best of the top candidates will be invited back with their families for a more personal introduction and interview.

<p>Hendersonville City Council members met with executive headhunters Tuesday to discuss the process and firm up a schedule for hiring a city manager before the interim manager's contract runs out in May.</p><p>Working with Chapel Hill's Developmental Associates LLC, the council plans to have its top candidate picked by mid-April and starting work in May before interim Manager A. Lee Galloway leaves. The executive recruiting firm penciled out a plan to help council develop a profile “to identify expectations and competencies for the position,” and asking key questions on challenges the city faces.</p><p>Information gathered from the city and council will help the group advertise the position regionally, nationally and worldwide. The council set a date of Jan. 22 for the firm to return and meet with citizens in an open session to learn what they seek in a city manager. The open meeting will begin at 5:45 p.m. </p><p>A morning session with DA recruiters will be held that day for key leaders and department heads. </p><p>Dr. Stephen Straus, president and founder of Developmental Associates, said that they will send the advertisement to the city for its approval next Monday. </p><p>“Then, we'll start posting the ad in some key locations and be ready to roll by the middle of next week,” he added.</p><p>Straus said the ad will be posted in “professional locations in both electronic and hardcopy publications;” will be sent out to the North Carolina City Managers Association, the League of Municipalities and International City/County Management Association; will be added to social media sites such as LinkedIn; and will be used to tempt “target individuals” and key contacts who stand out to the firm.</p><p>“I already have several people contacting Bo (Ferguson, former city manager,) and me about this job. You're going to have a lot of applicants,” Galloway told the council.</p><p>All candidates will be required to post their applications through a specified link on NEOGOV through the firm's website, said Heather Lee, an organizational psychologist with DA. All candidates will be asked to answer the same questions. Responses will be filtered by a set of metrics used to weigh the answers based on minimum criteria that caters to the city's specific needs, she added.</p><p>The survey on the front end, Lee said, should help them narrow down a pool of candidates to a top-20 or so field of applicants.</p><p>Straus said the ad will be posted for 30 days. The firm will meet with council at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 20 to discuss its initial screening of applicants and the “weighted” results of the answers.</p><p>“What I'd like to do at that meeting is to whittle down the total of about 20 to somewhere around 15,” Lee said.</p><p>Those 15 will then undergo a secondary screening process of telephone interviews with the firm, a test of their “emotional intelligence” (such as how they handle stress and relate to people) and a Google search. The results will be added to the weighted answers of the NEOGOV survey to give the council a better idea of how the candidates “add up.”</p><p>The pool will then be whittled down to five to seven candidates, “who will be invited to come to the city” for more tests.</p><p>Straus said that instead of putting all of their faith in interviews, they will put candidates through an “assessment center” process that includes multiple exercises testing a variety of skills and competencies. The exercises may include a simulated budget presentation the candidate has to give, a staff meeting, a mock press conference or a situation in which a worker's performance is not what it needs to be.</p><p>Those exercises conducted in Hendersonville will test candidates for two days — April 4-5 — preceded or followed by a tour of the city, during which council members will get to meet the applicants.</p><p>With the final screening, Straus hopes that “one superstar” will stick out to the council, and at least two or three may be worthy of consideration. In about a week or two weeks after the exercises, the best of the top candidates will be invited back with their families for a more personal introduction and interview.</p><p>Reach Weaver at emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867.</p>